Rubio’s quiet ascent into Trump’s inner circle
CNN
It was after midnight in Malaysia when Secretary of State Marco Rubio dialed into a call between President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The topic was Ukraine and Rubio, on his first trip to Asia as Trump’s top diplomat, had just met face-to-face with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
It was after midnight in Malaysia when Secretary of State Marco Rubio dialed in to a call between President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The topic was Ukraine, and Rubio, on his first trip to Asia as Trump’s top diplomat, had just met face-to-face with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Rubio relayed to Lavrov that Trump was frustrated and felt that the US had put extensive time and effort into ending the war in Ukraine, with little progress from the Russians, according to a senior White House official familiar with the meeting. In a somewhat hopeful readout to reporters, Rubio said Lavrov had shared “new and different” ideas about how to end the war, though nothing Rubio said that “guarantees a peace.” Asked directly what the administration’s policy on Ukraine was at that moment, Rubio was circumspect, reiterating the importance of engaging both sides and leaving the impression that more discussions with Russia could be on the horizon. He gave no indication that the president was about to set in motion a major policy shift. Now, joining the call on a secure line, Rubio listened as Trump broke the news to Rutte: The US was ready to back an effort to give Ukraine potentially billions of dollars in more weapons, made by the US but paid for by NATO. After months of unsuccessfully trying to get Russia to agree to a ceasefire, including numerous face-to-face meetings between special envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump was changing his strategy.
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